Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error... They are the natural enemies of error, and of error only... If [free enquiry] be restrained now, the present corruptions will be protected, and new ones encouraged.
Interpretation
Reason and free inquiry are essential tools for combating mistakes and misconceptions.
This quote speaks to the importance of reason and the freedom to inquire as fundamental methods for identifying and correcting errors. Jefferson emphasizes that without these tools, existing wrongs are maintained and new errors may arise, suggesting that a society that stifles critical thinking and open questioning risks perpetuating ignorance and corruption.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about the importance of education in promoting critical thinking.
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.
I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
We must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
The great man is he who does not lose his child's-heart.
With each book I write, I become more and more convinced that the books have a life of their own, quite apart from me.
Being free brings a lightness, a carefree surrender to all that is happening around you, and, above all, an acceptance of reality.
People have no idea what one saint can do: for sanctity is stronger than the whole of hell.
Even in the lust of knowledge I feel only my will's delight in begetting and becoming; and if there be innocence in my knowledge it is because my procreative will is in it.
To discover your real questions, simply take a time-out. Stop looking ahead of yourself at where you’re going or backward at where you’ve been. When you do stop, there’s a sense of going nowhere. There’s a sense of gap, which is a tremendous relief. You can simply breathe and be who you are.
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